Tuesday, January 05, 2021

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 of 2020, #1-50.

And without further ado, here's the top half of the list in reverse order to heighten the suspense.

The Top EPs of 2020 list will be up in the next few days.

50. The Breakup Society-Before the Intervention Ruined Everything
49. Bryde-The Volume of Things
48. Nick Costa-Tell My Mother I Love Her
47. Paul Melancon-The Get Go's Action Hour!
46. Kev Sherry-Foxy Orthodoxy
45. Eric Harrison-Gratitude
44. Sunbourne Rd-Teenage Lyrics
43. Mo Troper-Natural Beauty
42. Joel Sarakula-Companionship
41. Nick Pipitone-Thiensville
40. Sadler Vaden-Anybody Out There?
39. Nada Surf-Never Not Together
38. Painted Doll-How to Draw Fire
37. Blitzen Trapper-Holy Smokes Future Jokes
36. Brian Jay Cline-Power Lines in Paradise/Love & Quarantine/True Lies & Other Stories*
35. Mason Summitt-Negative Space
34. Brian Bringelson-Desperate Days
33. Ezrat-Carousel
32. Kyle Vincent-Whatever it Takes
31. Rob Martinez-Maybe Miss America
30. Eugene Edwards-A Week of Sundays
29. Marshall Holland-Paper Airplane
28. Dan Israel-Social Distance Anxiety Disorder
27. Brendan Benson-Dear Life
26. Andrew Weiss & Friends-The Golden Age of Love & Chemistry
25. Mike Viola-Godmuffin
24. Eric Hutchinson-Class of 98
23. Dave Caruso-Radiophonic Supersonic
22. Greg Pope-Wishing on a Dark Star
21. Glenn Thomas-Reassure Me There's a Window
20. Steve Balbi-I Think I Know for Sure
19. Surrender Human-Surrender Human
18. Nite Sobs-Do the Sob!
17. Dead Stars-Never Not Here
16. Rob Fetters-Ship Shake
15. Nick Frater-Fast & Loose
14. The Coffis Brothers-In the Cuts
13. Ryan Tanner-Crushed Romantic
12. High on Stress-Hold Me In
11. Dolour-The Royal We
10. JP Cregan-Twenty
9. The Szuters-Sugar
8. The Suitesixteen-Mine Would Be the Sun
7. Warren Zanes-The Biggest Bankrupt City in the World#
6. Taylor Young Band-Mercury Transit
5. The Foreign Films-Ocean Moon
4. Coke Belda-Coke Belda 4
3. The Lees of Memory-Moon Shot
2. Nick Piunti & The Complicated Men-Downtime
1. Rick Hromdaka-Better Days

(Note: In case you're looking for Joe Giddings' Better from Here, which was ranked highly on some other lists, it originally came out in 2016 and was ranked #39 in my list that year)

*rather than have him dominate my EP list, I treated his 3 2020 EPs as one album and ranked it accordingly

#this was released to his PledgeMusic (or whatever crowd-funding platform he used) subscribers in 2018 but not released publicly until this year

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Irrefutable evidence that the genre is DEAD.

Anonymous said...

Living proof that the genre is ALIVE AND WELL.

Darcen Brandt said...

The genre is far from dead.
Many of these records I don't recall you reviewing, no problem though as I another 20 plus albums to check out.

Darcen Brandt said...

So after listening to bits of all the albums I haven't yet heard I'm disappointed that many albums here are not at all what I would describe as "power pop." Its all good as I have other tastes as well but the name of the blog is "absolutepowerpop." I'm confused.

Anonymous said...

Hey Darcen, get over it. Request a refund if you're so inclined. Good tunes are good tunes, no matter how you define "power pop" in your most important world.

MrQwerty said...

Mr Unknown who claimed "Irrefutable evidence that the genre is DEAD." is just trolling I imagine, I mean why else would you bother on a site entitled 'Absolute Powerpop'?

And to Darcen Brandt I say, I hear PowerPop in Country Rock, Hard Rock, Singer/ Songwriters, Folkies and numerous other sub-genres. It doesn't all have to derive from the Fabs, Badfinger, the Byrds, Big Star and the Raspberries, although if newer artists can come up with an alternative on the roots of bands we love to love, then that's pretty damn OK too!

Anonymous said...

I give best album to The Weeklings 3 in a close race. Best song of the year (no qualifiers) Coke Belda's "6x8 Basement."

Anonymous said...

Hope you are doing well, man I miss your posts so much. This site is amazing. I've discovered so many great bands and albums from here and think you have rad taste in music. Thanks big time.

Anonymous said...

So sad to miss new posts from Absolute Powerpop, my beacon of great music for so many years.
Can we hope for a rebirth any time soon?
You are sorely missed...

Unknown said...

Great blog! Love this stuff. Here's my very power pop influenced EP:

https://soundcloud.com/user-943655760-732097950

Cheers!

Gavin

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